


3 AM

by cirrus (themorninglark)



Series: SASO 2017 [56]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2017, Engineer!Kuroo, M/M, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 03:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11958555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/pseuds/cirrus
Summary: He likes to say fixing trains isn’t quite as glamorous as it sounds. Yaku likes to say it isn’t glamorous at all.





	3 AM

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SASO 2017 Bonus Round 7: Free For All | originally posted [here](https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/25713.html?thread=16488049#cmt16488049)

It’s his headphones that Kuroo sees first, that splash of red against the grey on grey of the station at this hour, and the silence that hums in the air. He’s at the vending machine, back to the platform.

Kuroo slings his backpack over one shoulder, stuffs his hand into his pocket. There’s a frayed thread and a lost button on his jacket from where it got snagged on a jagged piece of metal. The midwinter night is a long, meandering trail behind him, pale white all along the tracks, weary in his bones. His feet are heavy and snowbound.

Yaku turns around, a can of hot milk tea in his hand, and tosses it to Kuroo.

 

* * *

 

He likes to say fixing trains isn’t quite as glamorous as it sounds. Yaku likes to say it isn’t glamorous at all.

“Only a nerd like you would find engines _sexy_.”

“Well,” Kuroo counters, “only a nerd like you would find a nerd like _me_ —”

Yaku stops him mid-sentence with a pointed glare, and Kuroo smiles at the knit of those brows, the way Yaku tilts his chin stubbornly upwards and changes the subject.

“Looks like it might snow.”

Kuroo cups his hands close and blows into them, rubs them together and stares at the sky. He has a long journey ahead. If Yaku’s premonition is right, it will be many hours before he comes home, and it will be dark.

As they approach the station, Yaku reaches out to straighten Kuroo’s collar. “Don’t you dare get engine oil on this jacket.”

Kuroo grins. “But it’s your favourite.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s why I don’t want you to get oil on it.”

“Don’t you enjoy a little _eau de moi_ — _ouch!_ ”

Yaku makes a show of blowing on his knuckles as Kuroo lets out an exaggerated yelp and clutches his side.

“Stop being such a drama queen,” says Yaku, with another nudge to the ribs. This time, his fist stays where it is, pressing fervent and warm as Yaku leans his weight into it, looks up at Kuroo with a grin that leaves him grasping for a witty retort.

 

* * *

 

He could have stayed. He could have taken the comfortable desk job they offered him, after he graduated. He could have had _saba_ for dinner instead of a roasted sweet potato he bought from a run-down stall in a village along the way, where they stopped in a snowdrift for two hours. He could be fast asleep with the cicadas outside and a 5 AM run with Yaku in the morning. They’d race each other breathless down three blocks at least, because old habits die hard.

These are the thoughts that run through Kuroo’s head like clockwork when something goes wrong, when he’s dying for a drink and up to his elbows in grease and gears.

This is the thought that always comes rushing back: Yaku’s lips on his, telling him to _go_ , because he’ll be an insufferable asshole if he stays put and bored and restless.

_And here I thought that was what you loved about me—_

_Nah. Just one of your better qualities,_ said Yaku, fingers tangled in Kuroo's impossible bedhead.

 

* * *

 

He nearly misses the catch. It's a good throw, but Kuroo has to scramble anyway; he grabs the can of milk tea millimetres from the floor before it lands, and straightens with a loud yawn.

"Sorry. I’m so damn tired. You didn’t have to wait, you know.”

Yaku lowers his headphones, comes over to wrap Kuroo’s cold hands in his.

“Don’t be stupid. Nice receive, by the way. What happened to your jacket?"

”I didn't get grease on it," says Kuroo, with a smirk, and Yaku smiles.


End file.
